Although early jazz styles like Dixieland and swing have had many revivals and dedicated bands that keep their sound alive, the style that historically came in between those styles, classic jazz (mid 20s - early 30s) has often been overlooked. Lately there have been several bands that are rising to prominence playing classic jazz, or ‘hot jazz’, as it was called back in the day, but many of these modern bands approach the style in too polite of manner. Back in the late 20s, this was music for gangsters, criminals, illegal alcohol manufacturers and drug abusers. It was wild crazy up tempo music that was outlawed in fascist and communist countries alike, as well as in parts of the US too. With their debut album, “Down Where the Bluebonnets Grow”, The Joymakers do a much better job than most when it comes to giving the music that raucous energy that makes it come alive.
The Joymakers are from Austin Texas and band leader Colin Hancock is like a walking encyclopedia when it comes to his knowledge of early jazz in that area. His band concentrates on music that falls in between the early jazz cities of New Orleans, San Antonio and Kansas City. Bands in that southern mid-west region were often called ‘territory bands’, as they often worked within a certain territory as opposed to around the entire country or around the world. Territory bands had distinctive personal sounds all their own. Artists from this region often had a bit of country in their sound, which is great for a working band in Austin. As Colin is apt to point out, jazz in this era didn’t ‘swing’ as we know it today, instead they ‘stomped’, which has a more pronounced two beat feel to it and syncopations more similar to ragtime than mid 30s swing.
All of the songs on this album are good, but its those up tempo numbers that really push the energy. “Tiger Rag” and “Wolverine Blues” supply the juice, but it’s “Crazy Quilt” that really gets the adrenaline flowing. Turn this up on your next drive and watch that speedometer climb. Some of the tracks have vocals, which are probably useful in live situations for entertaining people not normally into early jazz. The lyrics are often humorous and full of sexual double entendres from that era, but for the music lovers, the silly vocals may get in the way of the jams. This CD comes with an extensive booklet that will tell you a lot about this music, but this isn’t museum music, its get down party time.